Session 025: They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

July 26th, 2021 @6:30-10pm EST

General Summary

GENERAL SUMMARY
H1
Using a Disguise Kit on Slab, the party decides that now is as good of a time as any to attempt entry to the city. As such, they make their way forward, finding that the outskirts of the city are built upon the ruins of the one that stood before the Calamity. The outskirts appear primarily as almost shanty towns, built up to and against the walls of the city proper. At the gate they approach, they're able to see that there is a checkpoint arranged, with some people and wagons alike being turned away entirely while others are allowed through. From their perspective, there appears to be no apparent rhyme or reason to the screening process, though there apparently is one. Whatever the case may be, the party sets about searching for some sort of weak spot in the wall or another way into the city itself, in some way. While Cyrus debates on what sort of flying beast he could turn into in order to scout, the party hears a disturbance at the gate, with an Inquisitor and his armed escort attempting entry. The guards are clearly far from thrilled at letting him in for the city's "evaluation," but are polite as they are required to be, stating that they will let the Margrave know of his presence and reminding him that he is still not permitted in portions of the city.

[00:42:00]

Bird's Eye View

The wall itself appears well-maintained, and bird-Cyrus even notices some engineers doing inspections on the walls. By the looks of things, the wall is very, very specifically designed to be keeping things out of the city, namely monstrosities. With no apparent entry point to be found, Cyrus swoops into the first open window that he finds, gliding into one of the factories. Looking around, he notices a glowing ore inside, seemingly being used as a power source. The actual production appears to be firearms and other weaponry, and the workers are a mix of all sorts of races, including elves and orcs. Taking off, Cyrus goes off to seek out a warehouse to observe.
H2 While Cyrus scouts, the disguised Duul and Lavug move to the gate in an attempt at claiming to be part of the missionary group tied to the Inquisitor that came through earlier. They are told that a government-issued ID, temporary or otherwise, or a letter from the king himself are required for entry. With this, Emyr steps up atop Chompsky, and is told that much the same thing, though he claims to be Lord Bartholomew of the Emyr Line. He claims to be a foreign ambassador seeking to make a business arrangement with the city. Emyr's further claim is that he is originally from the East, and that nowadays his family mostly stays in the Theocracy and the Kingdom of Phax. The gate guards politely decline him entry, though they state that a letter from one of the families inside could also be arranged, going so far as to offer to send word to the head families, himself. He also encourages him to seek room and board in the Old Downtown sector. Emyr reacts graciously, offering 20GP to the guard in the hopes of expediating such measures, before stepping away. With this, the four of them, Slab included, join up together to head towards the Old Downtown sector. They head down the main road, across the river's bridge, and head back into a more well-kept area, clearly having better housing than most. All in all, it appears that this area is built on the bones of whatever portion of the former city was here before. However, most of who is seen about include official kingdom officials and soldiers, assigned to the city by the crown rather than being local residents of any form.
As they explore, they notice a large cauldron atop a wagon, with officials passing out bowls of soup to people in line. They call out that the rations are available at one bowl per person with plenty available for all, doing what they can to discourage any hint of conflict or riot. The occasional person is seen attempting to push and shove, is immediately detained and held until calmed, and then they are re-added to the line where they had been left.
[1:11:23]
Duul discusses the possibility of casting Invisibility on one of the officials aiming to enter the city and swiping their documentation so that part of the party could get in on their own. The majority of the party notices one of the citizens heading down an alleyway with his food, where he is immediately confronted by a small gang of people aiming to take his rations and gods-only-know what else. With no loyalties to this city, nation, or its people, the party ignores his troubles, aiming to try to find alternative ways inside. While Emyr waits to see if his plan goes through, Duul discusses the possibility of sending party members inside using the Invisibility spell, as he has three uses of it, while Cyrus turns around and decides to try to using the Shrinking Necklace on Slab or someone else and smuggling them in with his bird form. While waiting for some sign of one plan or another, Leonore informs them of what little history he knows of the area: the Margrave of Ordhull's grandfather made a deal with Leonore's great grandfather for an exchange of food and other resources in return for production and raw materials. Leonore is aware that Ordhull's holds their secrets about their production, as well as the fact that the city is often rumored to be a safehouse for mages and refugees alike, a fact that has never escaped the Theocracy's notice. The current climate of the city suggests that the Theocracy's involvement has increased since the boy was last here.
Soon, they are greeted by an Orc speaking Orcish, who additionally makes the comment that he's never been able to follow clans, in fact having never proceeded through adulthood through their ceremonies and rites. He states that he overheard them discussing trying to get into the city, and states that he can get them inside. After they mention that they refuse to owe anyone favors or debts, he mentions an up-front payment, to which they also refuse. He shows that he has enough IDs for the party, if only those present, but Duul responds by more aggressively refusing before switching his current speech to Infernal.
Meanwhile, Cyrus retrieves Ourse and makes his way back towards the party, relaying his plan through the familiar as he seeks the group out. With them on the way, Duul casts Invisibility on Emyr, who heads back towards the gate and attempts to pickpocket an ID off of a passer-by as they enter (or re-enter) the city. Emyr is able to snatch the card of an apparently heavily inebriated man being aided inside by a guard. The ID appears to be made of Wofrite, with the owner's name, date of birth, and residence listed. This particular man, [NAME], apparently lives in Ordhull's New Downtown, where Emyr is currently. He's able to notice that the city itself is fairly diverse in population, with elves, orcs, and all manner of races walking around the city unshackled. Slowly, Cyrus starts transporting the party one-by-one into the city to the warehouse he'd hidden in, starting with Chompsky. As Emyr travels to meet up with them, he passes bulletin boards with "you are here" maps on one side and various news articles on the other. Using these, Emyr makes his way to the warehouse district, observing the city as he goes. The bridge he crosses, for example, appears to have its own filtration and piping system, funnel filtered water up through the other districts. By this point, the spell has worn off, and the guards stop Emyr and request identification, to which he presents the "found" one in response, stating that he's meeting up with a friend as their shift ends. He is stopped again later for the same reason, and is called out for not being a warehouse worker; he reiterates that he's meeting a friend as said friend's shift ends, stating that he does not know the exact reason for the meeting. The assumption, Emyr asserts, is that he needs helping moving materials before heading home after his shift. One of the guards states that it's probably to do with some nonsense from the King or Theocracy pushing the war effort beyond the city's reasonable capabilities. They offer sympathy and ask that he not overwork himself as they let him pass. At this point, the trick is figuring out which warehouse is the correct one.
The rest of the party, meanwhile, explores their new "hideout," finding that it contains food. While the majority of such is dried good and non-perishables, a smaller collection of root vegetables and tubers can be found. However, despite the size of the warehouse, it is relatively scarcely packed. As they search, Duul retrieves Ourse, hiding him in his robes for safekeeping and stashing his Mask away. This done, he steps out to wait for Emyr, so that he can find their hideout more easily. This works effectively after a moment, where Emyr initially sees his deceased father before shaking his head to dismiss the image, finding in his place that Duul is, in fact, there. He promptly informs him that the identification cards are made of Wofrite. Though the party doesn't notice as quickly as they might have like, someone appears to be opening the front door. Two guards enter, stating that they need to make another pass through the food warehouses to ensure that nothing is being stolen. Duul begins a charade of claiming to be a mouse hunter with his bear stead, "Debbie" (Chompsky), holding Ourse up (and claiming his name) as an example. He claims that he was hired to investigate damaged food goods, catching the warehouse's crest and family or company name and claiming to be hired by the Wards for this endeavor. Successfully convincing the guards of his claims, Duul overhears them discussing how apparently the Wards finally did something about the infestation claims and complaints by the workers. The discussion is quickly derailed as the guards make an off-handed comment about him being a tiefling, leading to a bluffing discussion that reveals that Ordhull doesn't care about mages or lineages, so long as everyone does their part. Clearly, these guards, if not the majority of the city, has no attachment or good thoughts in regards to the Kingdom and Theocracy's policies and witch hunts. In fact, they even warn him about the Inquisitor that came through earlier, wishing him a good day and gently requesting he not steal the food, to which he agrees and states that he'll be leaving after he removes his traps, though more of his crew might be present to help with the clean-up. An off-handed comment about the captain having a lot on her plate and consequently not informing them of the investigation sparks "Ourse" (Duul) claiming that he was put on a waiting list that would have ruined his deadline, so he proceeded accordingly and was unable to inform the guards sooner.
During their discussion, Cyrus realizes that this people are not bad, in and of themselves, and desires to try to ease their burden in some way. His idea is to revive some of the land for use of agriculture, if only so that it could be used for a year or so. However, the spell would take a full eight hours of concentration to produce, would only last for about a year, and would be a mere half mile radius. Despite this, however, they would yield twice the plant growth that such farmland would normally produce. In order to further investigate the warehouse district, the party opts to split up, with Duul staying in the warehouse hideout and the others going off in search of the ores the city apparently produces and refines. Lavug and Emyr go off as their own team to search, finding a warehouse stacked with metal boxes labelled: "WARNING: HIGHLY VOLATILE". Concerned about the possibilities associated with this warning, they seek out a container that might be partially open or exposed in some way, locating instead a series of five hanging garments on a nearby rack. The garments appear to be constructed of metal and leather, with old welder's helmet plates hanging above them. With these "proto-hazmats," they don the protective gear and set about searching, wondering if perhaps the containers are purposely mislabeled to discourage smugglers and thieves. They make their way to the crates, crack them open, and set about investigating the contents. After fumbling with the lock, he's soon able to see the contents and find that the crates contain Wofrite satuated with raw Calamity energy. Thinking that the estate studying the material would be an important footnote, Emyr asks if Lavug has his chalk in order to produce a teleportation circle to deliver a crate or two to the estate magically. After debating for a moment, Lavug pulls out his chalk, but a spark shoots from it to a piece of ore in the open box. They rapidly close it as the afflicted ore begins to glow brighter. Deciding to take or send other crates instead, they come to the realization, or rather memory, that the teleportation is a one-way trip, and they'd need to send the crates in question with a note or not send it at all. Despite his expertise in Arcana, Lavug is unable to safely transport the raw, contaminated material, and the crate is instead repelled by the magics of the teleportation sigil, as though two magnetic poles were attempted to be forced together. The box, having hit a wall, is now moving a little bit, as though the contents are charged or vibrating. Duul, through Prestidigitation, requests that Emyr set Ourse down. The teleportation sigil, as a result of the interactions, is now burned into the stone floor, and the pair have no way of disguising the mark in question. Rapidly working with Mending to repair the damage, Ourse handles his work as a familiar, though he fails to get out of the way of the explosive results of the ore and is subsequently killed. With nothing else to do, the pair flee, still wearing the garbs, and notice a hole being blown into the warehouse wall from the vibrating box, and the neighboring warehouse as well. Taking off, Emyr inadvertedly leaves Lavug behind, who is not nearly the athlete the party seems to lean towards. As such, Lavug is soon pursued by approaching guards, and the pair attempt to leap a fence to escape their pursuers. With no time to waste, they continue to make a break for it towards their hideout warehouse.
In the meantime, Cyrus and Slab find a warehouse stocked with wooden crates containing metal ingots. Assuming it to be Wofrite but unsure, Cyrus retrieves one of the bars for investigative purposes. They notice in one end of the room a chained, locked, and barred off door. With no care for whether or not they get caught, Slab uses his Trident to snap the lock and allow them entry. Inside, they're able to locate a stock of freshly-made blanks for Phaxian IDs, holding them here until they can be transported for stamping and further processing. Once able to retrieve them, they end up taking the majority of a box, leaving five inside and attempting a forgery in the logs for the missing blanks, forging under the name of "Theodore Bramble". [3:04:00] As they leave the warehouse, they can hear a lot of commotion and guards running down the path.
With Duul searching the original warehouse, he eventually settles for forging a document detailing his contract, just in case they are confronted about the job. Shortly there after, he hears the explosion that killed his familiar. When Emyr and Lavug arrive, they rapidly move to ditch the suits, since those were seen more than their actual selves. Clean and clear, they step out to feign ignorance, asking about the explosion in their apparent "confusion." As they do so, they encounter the guards from before, who inquire if they have seen any suspicious persons in the area. Regretfully, they state that they'll need to bring the group in for questioning in relation to the matter, though he trusts the group. "Ourse" requests a second to finish disarming traps, using the time to more perfectly hide the suits and retrieve his document. With this done, the party follows the guards to one of the stations for interrogation.

---

Rewards Granted

Emyr:
-20GP
"found" ID card

Cyrus:
+10 ID Blanks
+3 Ingots
Slab:
+5 ID Blanks

Character(s) interacted with

an Inquisitor and his armed escort
four pairs of guards

Report Date

26 Jul 2021

Primary Location

Ordhull